At least seven people have been killed in Russia following what Moscow described as the largest-scale Ukrainian attack of the year, a massive drone assault that sent hundreds of unmanned aircraft toward the Russian capital and other key regions.
Russian officials said approximately 822 drones were launched, with 600 targeting Moscow alone. The city’s governor called it “one of the most massive drone attacks in recent memory.” Among the sites hit was a warehouse belonging to Wildberries, Russia’s leading online retailer, located in Koledino, about 25 kilometers from central Moscow. The strike sparked a large fire and injured three people, according to BBC News.
In retaliation, Russian missile and drone strikes on Ukraine also left at least seven dead and more than 39 injured. Five people died in the Rostov region of southwestern Russia, while a woman was killed in Belgorod when a civilian bus was struck, and an 83 year old man died in the Moscow region.
Kyiv has said it is targeting logistics hubs used to supply the Russian military, and Wildberries has been repeatedly hit since July. Both sides accuse each other of targeting civilians.
In Ukraine, a guided aerial bomb struck a private home in the Zaporizhzhia region, killing a 66 year old man and a 64 year old woman. Two more died in Kryvyi Rih, and single fatalities were reported in Sumy, Donetsk, and Kherson. In Kyiv, air-raid sirens blared four times overnight, and at least six people, including a child, were injured.
The strikes damaged a book market in Kyiv’s Pochayna district, leaving burnt volumes scattered across the ground. “All these books in the street were from my husband’s stall,” said Valentina, 69, surveying the wreckage. “You never think that it will happen to you.”
Luba, a 42 year old vinyl store owner, said she lost 500,000 hryvnias worth of stock. “This business was my baby,” she said. “I want Russia to disappear from this Earth.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said 13 regions came under attack this week, with Russia launching more than 1,550 drones, nearly 1,560 guided bombs, and 62 missiles. “Wherever the Russians can reach with their ballistic missiles, they strike civilian infrastructure,” he said.
With ground gains minimal on both sides, the war has increasingly become an aerial contest of missiles and drones aimed at crippling each nation’s warfighting capacity.
